RADIO
Hello there eSports DFS enthusiasts, and welcome back to RotoBaller's coverage of Call of Duty DFS contests for DraftKings! Not the start I was looking for but it's early in the season and plenty of time to make up for it! The farther in the season, the more data we will get and be able to make the best decisions as it comes to DFS. Some surprises ended the weekend as London Royal Ravens have looked pretty good, and Optic the complete opposite. I think this season is going to be much closer overall than the past two seasons have been.
This is easily one of my favorite sports to cover here at Rotoballer because I play a ton of COD myself and I like to think I'm pretty good at it as well. I have been following the COD League for about five years now and I finally get to put all this knowledge to the test! This weekend I have a feeling is going to be much better DFS wise as we have a better grip on who to target and who not too so much. In tomorrows set of games, we have Paris Legion taking on Boston Breach, Seattle Surge get the Minnesota Rokkr, LA Guerrillas get the Toronto Ultra, and lastly, the LA Thieves play the NY Subliners
Today I'll be bringing you my COD DFS advice, analysis, and lineup picks for eSports DFS contests on DraftKings for Friday, February 11th, 2022, at 3:00 PM EST. Feel free to follow me on Twitter @DFSKoby or find me in the slack as I am happy to engage with readers and try to answer your questions!
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Call of Duty: Major 1 Qualifiers
Best of 5
- Boston Breach (-360) vs. Paris Legion (+250)
- Minnesota Rokkr (+265) vs. Seattle Surge (-400)
- Toronto Ultra (-500) vs. LA Guerrillas (+330)
- New York Subliners (+230) vs. LA Thieves (-325)
Slate Overview
Boston Breach and Paris Legion. This is going to be an interesting one, I think Boston should be the team that handles business but Paris didn't look too bad in their loss to FaZe but look significantly worse against Florida, where they only won SnD, something Boston has been stellar at this season so far. I do think this one ends up being a 3-1 in favor of Boston as I think they might split the hardpoints. Capsidal had a great rookie debut, Nero has shown to be a straight attacker and that can lead to a lot of kills but a lot of deaths as well. On the Paris side, Temp and John really were leading this team this last weekend and are going to be needed heavily if they want a chance in tomorrow's match.
Seattle might be the best team in the league right now. They were able to take down Toronto last weekend and got their revenge on them from the Kickoff series finals. Sib and Pred have been insane so far to start the season and Mack has been a stellar third for them. Minnesota was able to take down Optic but I don't think that holds as much anymore with how poorly Optic has started the season so far. Minnesota if they want a chance in this one they will need to find a way to shut down Sib and if they can't then this should be smooth sailing for Seattle.
LA Guerrillas have the pieces on paper to take any good team down, but they came up short against Boston but looked much better against NYSL. They are going to need drastic improvement over the week though as Toronto is next level compared to NYSL and Boston. I do think they have what it takes to take at least a map though and I think if that's going to be anywhere it's in hardpoint where LAG has won all 4 of their hardpoint games or in SnD where Toronto has struggled so far. I am going to say 3-1 Toronto though.
Subliners already having turmoil within their team as Neptune could be moving back down to the Challengers scene and being removed from the starting lineup for NYSL. Which is the perfect setup for LA Thieves to come in and rebound from the rough loss in their opener against FaZe. LAT has a very balanced team as any one of the four could be that guy that is crushing that day. So having a little bit of all of them in different lineups isn't a bad idea. With the risk being there that Neptune doesn't play, I would avoid him at all costs. The only one I'm interested in from NYSL would be Hydra. LA Thieves by sweep though.
COD DFS Basics
- Like in CSGO, players receive two points for a kill and are penalized -1 for dying. Therefore, the simplest stat to look at here is the K/D ratio.
- You need to roster a team slot on both sites. Teams accrue fantasy points for games won (+4), matches won (+10), and Search and Destroy/Control rounds won (+.5).
- Teams will be playing best-of-five matches on a rotation of various game modes. Those modes and the order in which they are played are as follows: Hardpoint, Search & Destroy, Control, Hardpoint, Search & Destroy.
- In hardpoint rounds, players with positive K/D ratios are usually the highest scorers and these rounds are often the bloodiest.
- They also have changed a game mode from Domination to Control for League play. This is going to be a lot different in gameplay as it's round-based and not the first one to 200. They play first one to 3 round wins. You win by capturing both points or killing the enemy team until they run out of their lives. One team defends and the other attacks.
- There is a sweep bonus this year as teams and players both can get a 20 point player sweep and a 5 point team sweep. In the chance, they do sweep they also get granted a bonus of 20 points for not playing hardpoint and a bonus of 5 points for not playing the final Search and Destroy map. So that adds up in a sweep to a total of 45 extra points which are going to be very crucial this year.
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COD DFS Captain Considerations
Sib: For anyone who follows me on Twitter you probably saw how I felt about Sib before this article. He has been insane and is definitely a leading candidate for rookie of the year so far alongside his teammate Pred. Sib is quite pricey this week but he gets a great matchup against Minnesota Rokkr. In just 3 games of hardpoint, he is averaging an insane 1.62 K/D. He also carries an overall 1.39 K/D across the two matches he played last week which leads the league so far this season. If this continues anything close to that he could easily be one of the highest-scoring players on the slate. Choke down the hefty price and let Sib do the work.
Capsidal: What a start to some of these rookies this year. Capsidal had quite the opening day as well who has shown to be one of the best parts of this brand new Boston team. He leads his team with a 1.10 K/D. It was a close match with LAG in their opener as they struggled on both hardpoints but had convincing wins on both SnDs and Control to close them out. Boston now gets a Paris team who didn't look too bad in their opener against FaZe but then got dismantled by Florida. Capsidal is very expensive and could prove to be difficult to get with any other high-priced players but I think would be a good pivot from what I expect to be chalk in Sib.
Other captain plays: Insight, CleanX, Pred, Standy(GPP), John(GPP), Octane, Envoy
COD DFS Value Plays
Drazah: This is a stretch on it being a value play but as the cheapest on LA Thieves, I felt like he deserved it. He played very well against FaZe in their only match last weekend. Drazah really played a big part on this team as he led the team in kills in SnD and Control and was 2nd in kills in Hardpoint. This matchup is very favorable for LA Thieves too and I think it's a good spot to take advantage of. He holds so far this season a 1.08 K/D in Hardpoint, a 1.14 in SnD, and a .95 in Control. It's a small sample size but it is against the defending champs. At 8k I do really think it's a solid place to start the LA Thieves stacks.
Gunless: This is definitely more of a GPP play but he is far too cheap to just not be considered here. My only worry is the chance Toronto sweeps them but even then, Gunless should still get the 25 points for HNP and SNDNP bonuses as well. He just needs to play well in those first three maps and at his price can still score well. In the two matches played so far for LAG, he has a positive K/D in all three game modes and leads his team with a 1.18 overall K/D. If LAG can squeak a map which I do think is possible then Gunless could end up being a very solid value play at 6,800$. Slasher is a bit cheaper than Gunless and is also a decent pivot if you just don't quite have the salary for Gunless.
Other value plays: Temp(GPP), Mack, TJHaly, Bance(Sweep Dependent), MajorManiak(GPP)
COD DFS Stacks
LA Thieves: Turmoil is already happening within the New York Subliners as there are rumors that Neptune might already be subbed out just after one weekend of playing with the team. If that's the case targeting the Thieves so that they can pounce on the opportunity to rebound from their rough loss to Atlanta FaZe in their first game of the season could be the move. Overall Thieves have a very well-rounded roster and anybody can get there. There isn't too much value when it comes to the LA Thieves on this slate but I think that can be found elsewhere. Kenny looked fantastic in the Kickoff Classic but struggled in their opener. It's hard to base their stats off a game against a team like Atlanta FaZe but finding the bright spots in a player like Drazah who went nearly positive in every single game played against FaZe and is 8k is a good spot. Octane is literally a human turret and could drop bombs. Envoy is a player who engages heavily with the opponent and leads the team in Kills per minute on Hardpoint but as an SMG player that can lead to him dying more often too.
Other Team Plays: Seattle Surge, Boston Breach, Toronto Ultra
Summary
- TLDR: Seattle 3-1, Boston 3-1, Toronto 3-0/1, LAT 3-0
- Seattle: Sib, Pred, Mack
- Minnesota: Standy, MajorManiak
- Boston: Capsidal, Nero, Methodz
- Paris: John, Temp
- LAG: Slasher, Gunless
- Toronto: Insight, CleanX, Cammy
- LA Thieves: Drazah, Octane, Envoy, Kenny
- NY Subliners: Hydra
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